


Affair of State

by Mercurie



Category: 16th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cousins, F/F, First Meetings, Meme, Royalty, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 20:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3782929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercurie/pseuds/Mercurie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who was this queen of the other half of her island?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affair of State

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bold_seer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/gifts).



> Prompt was "We're in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?"

The weather was poor. A bad sign. The wind blew slantwise and rain slapped at the Queen of England's cheeks. 

When the torches came, bobbing and sputtering in the hands of riders on horseback, they came from the north on the same road as the hundreds of letters that had gone before. Elizabeth oughtn't to have come – she had been afraid to – and no sooner did the Queen of Scots cross into her realm than her fears were realized.

Not fear of an army, nor of a war. Fear of Mary Stuart's smile, more brilliant than the torchlight as she tipped her head back into the rain, eyes closed and wild red hair curling. _The most charming woman in all the courts of Europe._ Every diplomat Elizabeth had sent had fallen half in love with the Queen of Scots. Mary had begged ceaselessly to meet her in person and Elizabeth's good sense had ever warned her to stay away. This woman would surely like nothing better than to charm Elizabeth into complacency as well, until she could steal the throne of England and give the muttering Catholic nobles back their supremacy.

But simple curiosity had won out in the end. Who was this queen of the other half of her island? 

"We're in the midst of a thunderstorm and you want to stop and feel the rain?" Elizabeth said abruptly. 

Mary opened her eyes. "Dear cousin!" she said, familiar as only a peer could be. "These many years I've dreamed of nothing so much as meeting you at last. I cannot help but love the foulest thunderstorm if it brings me to you. Shall we ride?" 

Mary spurred her horse and Elizabeth, startled, followed by instinct so that it was the two of them alone riding side by side through the wind and rain. They were free of their retinues; for a moment only, and then the hoof beats behind caught them up, no more swiftly than Elizabeth's thoughts. 

Impetuous, this cousin queen, and dangerous and beautiful. The wrong people would rally to her. Mary could not be allowed to run free. She would have to be controlled. Confined, if necessary, and watched as intimately as Elizabeth could orchestrate. With Mary's warm laugh ringing in her ears, she smiled around a sudden pain in her heart; and in another, colder part of her mind, began to spin her next subterfuge.


End file.
